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Hagios Ioannes Prodromos en tois Stoudiou (Saint John the Forerunner at Stoudios), often shortened to Stoudios or Stoudion (Latin: Studium), was historically the most important monastery of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The residents of the monastery were referred to as Stoudites (or Studites). Although the monastery has been derelict for half a millennium, the laws and customs of the Stoudion were taken as models by the monks of Mount Athos and of many other monasteries of the Orthodox world; even today they have influence.

The ruins of the monastery are situated not far from the Propontis (Marmara Sea) in the section of the city called Psamathia, today's Koça Mustafa Paşa. It was founded in 462 by the consul Stoudios (Latin: Studius), a Roman patrician who had settled in Constantinople, and was consecrated to Saint John the Baptist. Its first monks came from the monastery of Acoemetae.

History

The Stoudites gave the first proof of their devotion to the Orthodox Faith during the schism of Acacius (484-519); they also remained loyal during the storms of Iconoclastic dispute in the eighth and ninth centuries. They were driven from the monastery and the city by Emperor Constantine V Kopronymos; after his death (775), however, some of them returned.

Hegumenos (abbot) Sabbas zealously defended the Orthodox doctrines against the Iconoclasts at the Seventh Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (787). His successor was Theodore the Studite to whom the monastery owes most of its fame, and who especially fostered academic and spiritual study. During St. Theodore's administration also the monks were harassed and driven away several times, some of them being put to death.

Theodore's pupil Naukratios re-established discipline after the Iconoclastic dispute had come to an end. Hegumenos Nicholas (848-845 and 855-858) refused to recognize the Patriarch St. Photios and was on this account imprisoned in his own monastery. He was succeeded by five abbots who recognized the patriarch. The brilliant period of the Stoudios came to an end at this time.

In the middle of the eleventh century, during the administration of Abbot Simeon, a monk named Niketas Stethatos (also known as Nicetas Pectoratus), a disciple of Symeon the New Theologian, made a virulent attack on the Latins in a book which he wrote on the use of unleavened bread, the Sabbath, and the marriage of priests. In 1054 he was obliged to recant in the presence of the emperor and of the papal legates and to throw his book into the fire, but he renewed his dispute later.

As regards the intellectual life of the monastery in other directions it is especially celebrated for its famous school of calligraphy which was established by Theodore. The art of manuscript illumination was cultivated, with many brilliant products of the monastic scriptorium now residing in Venice, Vatican City, and Moscow (e.g., Chludov Psalter).

In the eighth and eleventh centuries the monastery was the centre of Byzantine religious poetry; a number of the hymns are still used in the Orthodox Church. Besides Theodore and Niketas, a number of other theological writers are known. Three of the Stoudite monks rose to become the ecumenical patriarchs; and three emperors - Michael V, Michael VII, and Isaac I Komnenos - took monastic vows in the Stoudion shortly before the end of their lives.

In 1204, the monastery was destroyed by the Crusaders and was not fully restored until 1290. The Russian pilgrims Anthony (c. 1200) and Stephen (c. 1350) were amazed by the size of the monastic grounds. It is thought that the cloister sheltered as much as 700 monks at the time. The greater part of the monastery was again destroyed when the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453.

Modern condition

The only part to survive into the 20th century was the Cathedral of St. John Baptist, probably the oldest remaining church in Istanbul, a 5th century basilica which was converted by Bayezid II's equerry into the mosque İmrahor Camii (literally, Mosque of the Stablemaster). The ancient structure sustained grave damage from the great fires of 1782 and 1920; the earthquake of 1894 also contributed to its ruin.

Following the earthquake, a group of Russian Byzantinist scholars, led by Fyodor Uspensky, opened the Russian Archaeological Institute on the monastery grounds, but its activity was suppressed in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917. During the subsequent decades, the ruins of the monastery complex were looted by local inhabitants to repair their houses, while the magnificent 13th century pavement still lies open to elements "and disappears slowly but steadily".

Studite Brethren (MSU Latin: Monaci Studiti Ucraini, Ukrainian: Монахи Студитського Уставу, Monakhy Studytskoho Ustavu) are a religious society of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The Studite rule was developed at the Stoudios monastery of Constantinople, from the 5th century onward, especially by Saint Theodore the Studite (760-826). The rule was brought to Kievan Rus in the 11th century by Saint Theodosius of Kiev. In the 17th century all Ukrainian monasteries were united in the Order of Saint Basil the Great, following a path similar to that taken by Western Rite monasticism. With the dire situation of Ukrainian monasticism and the reform of the Basilian Order in the end of the 19th century, Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky decided to also reintroduce monasticism based on the Studite rule. By the beginning of the 20th century the first monastery was established and in 1919 moved into the Holy Dormition Lavra in Univ a former Basilian monastery which at that time served as the residence of the Metropolitan. Fr Lev Gillet was, for a short time, a member of this community. Before the development of the monastery was interrupted by Soviets in 1939 there were 225 Studite monks in eight monasteries.

The Communists attempted to destroy this particular branch of the Ukrainian church, in 1946 they forcefully subjected it to the Moscow Patriarchate and the Univ Lavra was turned into a concentration camp for Greek Catholic clergy who openly refused to serve them and renounce their loyalty to the Pope. In 1947 the Archimandrite of the Studite monks, Blessed Clement Sheptytsky was arrested and martyred in Siberia in 1951. The Studite monks in Ukraine were forced into the underground where they secretly served the Catacomb Church. A small group of monks, who during the war ended up in Western Europe, emigrated to Canada where they established the Holy Dormition Monastery in Woodstock, Ontario in 1951. When in 1963 Patriarch Joseph Slipyj was released from the Soviet GULAGs he took the Studite monks under his personal patronage and established the Studion monastery of St Theodore the Studite in the Papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo. In 1978 Lubomyr Husar, the present Patriarch of Kyiv and Halych, became the Archimandrite of the Studites.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union the Studite reëstablished their monasteries in Ukraine. On Christmas Eve of 1991 the bells of the Univ Lavra tolled for the first time in half a century, that night also announcing the rebirth of Ukraine.

Today, there are 90 Studite monks in eight monasteries. The Studites are known for opting to preserve all the Eastern Rite traditions in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and run a successful publishing house, 'Svichado' (Ukrainian: Свічадо).

Basilian monks are monks who follow the "Rule" of Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea. The chief importance of the monastic rules and institutes of St. Basil lies in the fact that to this day his reconstruction of the monastic life is the basis of most of the monasticism practiced in the Orthodox Churches, as well as some Greek Catholic communities. Saint Benedict of Nursia, who fulfilled much the same function in the West, took his Regula Benedicti from the writings of St. Basil and other earlier church fathers. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, monks do not generally call themselves "Basilians", while the Greek Catholics do. Thus the expression, "Basilian monk" almost always refers to religious of those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite.

Rule of St. Basil

Under the name of Basilians are included all the religions that follow the Rules of St. Basil. It should be noted that the "Rules" of St. Basil are not intended to be constitutions like the various Western monastic Rules; rather, it is a collection of his responses to questions about the ascetic life--hence the more accurate original name: Asketikon. There were two such collections, the Greater Asketikon and the Lesser Asketicon (the difference between the two being their length).

Eastern monasticism has never possessed the hierarchical organization which ordinarily constitutes the Western religious orders, properly so called. Only a few houses were formerly grouped into congregations or are today so combined. Usually each monastery follows its own traditions, and is either under the local bishop or is "stavropegial" (directly under the Patriarch or a Synod of bishops).

St. Basil drew up his Asketikon for the members of the monastery he founded about 356 on the banks of the Iris River in Cappadocia. St Basil's claim to the authorship of the Rules and other ascetical writings that go under his name has been questioned. But the tendency now is to recognize as his at any rate the two sets of Rules. Probably the truest idea of his monastic system may be derived from a correspondence between him and St. Gregory Nazianzen at the beginning of his monastic life. Before forming this community St. Basil visited Egypt, Coele-Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine in order to see for himself the manner of life led by the monks in these countries. In the latter country and in Syria the monastic life tended to become more and more eremitical and to run to great extravagances in the matter of bodily austerities. When Basil formed his monastery in the neighborhood of Neocaesarea in Pontus, he deliberately set himself against these tendencies. He declared that the cenobitical life is superior to the eremitical; that fasting and austerities should not interfere with prayer or work; that work should form an integral part of the monastic life, not merely as an occupation, but for its own sake and in order to do good to others; and therefore that monasteries should be near towns. All this was a new departure in monachism.

The Rule of Basil is divided into two parts: the "Greater Monastic Rules" and the "Lesser Rules". Rufinus who translated them into Latin united the two into a single Rule under the name of Regulae sancti Basilii episcopi Cappadociae ad monachos; this Rule was followed by some Western monasteries. For a long time the Bishop of Caesarea was wrongly held to be the author of a work on monasticism called Contitutiones monasticae In his Rule St. Basil follows a catechetical method; the disciple asks a question to which the master replies. He limits himself to laying down indisputable principles which will guide the superiors and monks in their conduct. He sends his monks to the Sacred Scriptures; in his eyes the Bible is the basis of all monastic legislation, the true Rule. The questions refer generally to the virtues which the monks should practice and the vices they should avoid. The greater number of the replies contain a verse or several verses of the Bible accompanied by a comment which defines the meaning. The most striking qualities of the Basilian Rule are its prudence and its wisdom. It leaves to the superiors the care of settling the many details of local, individual, and daily life; it does not determine the material exercise of the observance or the administrative regulations of the monastery. Poverty, obedience, renunciation, and self-abnegation are the virtues which St. Basil makes the foundation of the monastic life.

As he gave it, the Rule could not suffice for anyone who wished to organize a monastery, for it takes this work as an accomplished fact. The life of the Cappadocian monks could not be reconstructed from his references to the nature and number of the meals and to the garb of the inmates. The superiors had for guide a tradition accepted by all the monks. This tradition was enriched as time went on by the decisions of councils, by the ordinances of the Emperors of Constantinople, and by the regulations of a number of revered abbots. Thus there arose a body of law by which the monasteries were regulated. Some of these laws were accepted by all, others were observed only by the houses of some one country, while there were regulations which applied only to certain communities. In this regard Oriental monasticism bears much resemblance to that of the West; a great variety of observances is noticeable. The existence of the Rule of St. Basil formed a principle of unity.

St Basil's influence, and the greater suitability of his institute to European ideas, ensured the propagation of Basilian monachism; and Sozomen says that in Cappadocia and the neighboring provinces there were no hermits hut only cenobites. However, the eastern hankering after the eremitical life long survived, and it was only by dint of legislation, both ecclesiastical (council of Chalcedon) and civil (Justinian Code), that the Basilian cenobitic form of monasticism came to prevail throughout the Greek-speaking lands, though the eremitical forms have always maintained themselves.

Greek monachism underwent no development or change for four centuries, except the vicissitudes inevitable in all things human, which in monasticism assume the form of alternations of relaxation and revival. The second half of the 8th century seems to have been a time of very general decadence; but about the year 800 Theodore, destined to be the only other creative name in Greek monachism, became abbot of the monastery of the Studium in Constantinople. He set himself to reform his monastery and restore St. Basil's spirit in its primitive vigour. But to effect this, and to give permanence to the reformation, he saw that there was need of a more practical code of laws to regulate the details of the daily life, as a supplement to St Basil's Rules. He therefore drew up constitutions, afterwards codified, which became the norm of the life at the Studium monastery, and gradually spread thence to the monasteries of the rest of the Greek empire. Thus to this day the Rules of Basil and the Constitutions of Theodore the Studite, along with the canons of the Councils, constitute the chief part of Greek and Russian monastic law.

Monasteries in the Middle East and Anatolia

The monasteries of Cappadocia were the first to accept the Rule of St. Basil; it afterwards spread gradually to all the monasteries of the East. Those of Armenia, Chaldea, and of the Syrian countries in general preferred instead of the Rule of St. Basil those observances which were known among them as the Rule of St. Anthony. Neither the ecclesiastical nor the imperial authority was exerted to make conformity to the Basilian Rule universal. It is therefore impossible to tell the epoch at which it acquired the supremacy in the religious communities of the Greek world; but the date is probably an early one. The development of monasticism was, in short, the cause of its diffusion. Protected by the emperors and patriarchs the monasteries increased rapidly in number. In 536 the Diocese of Constantinople contained no less than sixty-eight, that of Chalcedon forty, and these numbers continually increased. Although monasticism was not able to spread in all parts of the empire with equal rapidity, yet what it probably must have been may be inferred from these figures. These monks took an active part in the ecclesiastical life of their time; they had a share in all the quarrels, both theological and other, and were associated with all the works of charity. Their monasteries were places of refuge for studious men. Many of the bishops and patriarchs were chosen from their ranks. Their history is interwoven, therefore, with that of the Oriental Churches. They gave to the preaching of the Gospel its greatest apostles. As a result monastic life gained a footing at the same time as Christianity among all the races won to the Faith. The position of the monks in the empire was one of great power, and their wealth helped to increase their influence. Thus their development ran a course parallel to that of their Western brethren. The monks, as a rule, followed the theological vicissitudes of the emperors and patriarchs, and they showed no notable independence except during the iconoclastic persecution; the stand they took in this aroused the anger of the imperial controversialists. The Faith had its martyrs among them; many of them were condemned to exile, and some took advantage of this condemnation to reorganize their religious life in Italy.

Of all the monasteries of this period the most celebrated was that of St. John the Baptist of Studium, founded at Constantinople in the fifth century. It acquired its fame in the time of the iconoclastic persecution while it was under the government of the saintly Hegumenos (abbot) Theodore, called the Studite. Nowhere did the heretical emperors meet with more courageous resistance. At the same time the monastery was an active center of intellectual and artistic life and a model which exercised considerable influence on monastic observances in the East. Further details may be found in "Prescriptio constitutionis monasterii Studii" (Migne, P.G., XCIX, 1703-20), and the monastery's "Canones de confessione et pro peccatis satisfactione " (ibid., 1721-30). Theodore attributed the observances followed by his monks to his uncle, the saintly Abbot Plato, who first introduced them in his monastery of Saccudium. The other monasteries, one after another adopted them, and they are still followed by the monks of Mount Athos. The monastery of Mount Athos was founded towards the close of the 10th century through the aid of the Emperor Basil the Macedonian and became the largest and most celebrated of all the monasteries of the Orient; it is in reality a monastic province. The monastery of Mount Olympus in Bithynia should also be mentioned, although it was never as important as the other. The monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, which goes back to the early days of monasticism, had a great fame and is still occupied by monks. Reference to Oriental monks must here be limited to those who have left a mark upon ecclesiastical literature: Leontius of Byzantium (d. 543), author of a treatise against the Nestorians and Eutychians; St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, one of the most vigorous adversaries of the Monothelite heresy (P.G., LXXXVII, 3147-4014); St. Maximus the Confessor, Abbot of Chrysopolis (d. 662), the most brilliant representative of Byzantine monasticism in the seventh century; in his writings and letters St. Maximus steadily combated the partisans of the erroneous doctrines of Monothelitism (ibid., XC and XCI); St. John Damascene, who may perhaps be included among the Basilians; St Theodore the Studite (d. 829), the defender of the veneration of sacred images; his works include theological, ascetic, hagiographical, liturgical, and historical writings (P.G., XCIX). The Byzantine monasteries furnish a long line of historians who were also monks: John Malalas, whose " hronographia" (P.G., XCVII, 9-190) served as a model for Eastern chroniclers; Georgius Syncellus, who wrote a "Selected Chronographia"; his friend and disciple Theophanes (d. 817), Abbot of the "Great Field" near Cyzicus, the author of another "Chronographia" (P.G., CVIII); the Patriarch Nicephorus, who wrote (815-829) an historical "Breviarium" (a Byzantine history), and an "Abridged Chronographia" (P.G., C, 879-991); George the Monk, whose Chronicle stops at A. D. 842 (P.G. CX). There were, besides, a large number of monks, hagiographers, hymnologists, and poets who had a large share in the development of the Greek Liturgy. Among the authors of hymns may be mentioned: St. Maximus the Confessor; St. Theodore the Studite; St. Romanus the Melodist; St. Andrew of Crete; St. John Damascene; Cosmas of Jerusalem, and St. Joseph the Hymnographer. Fine penmanship and the copying of manuscripts were held in honor among the Basilians. Among the monasteries which excelled in the art of copying were the Studium, Mount Athos, the monastery of the Isle of Patmos and that of Rossano in Sicily; the tradition was continued later by the monastery of Grottaferrata near Rome. These monasteries, and others as well, were studios of religious art where the monks toiled to produce miniatures in the manuscripts, paintings, and goldsmith work. The triumph of orthodoxy over the iconoclastic heresy infused an extraordinary enthusiasm into this branch of their labors.

From the beginning the Oriental Churches often took their patriarchs and bishops from the monasteries. Later, when the secular clergy was recruited largely from among married men, this custom became almost universal, for, as the episcopal office could not be conferred upon men who were married, it developed, in a way, into a privilege of the religious who had taken the vow of celibacy. Owing to this the monks formed a class apart, corresponding to the upper clergy of the Western Churches; this gave and still gives a preponderating influence to the monasteries themselves. In some of them theological instruction is given both to clerics and to laymen. As long as the spirit of proselytism existed in the East the monasteries furnished the Church with all its missionaries. The names of two have been inscribed by Rome in its calendar of annual feasts, namely,St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the Apostles of the Slavs. The Byzantine schism did not change sensibly the position of the Basilian monks and monasteries. Their sufferings arose through the Muslim conquest. To a large number of them this conquest brought complete ruin, especially to those monasteries in what is now Turkey in Asia and the region around Constantinople. In the East the convents for women adopted the Rule of St. Basil and had constitutions copied from those of the Basilian monks.

Catholic Basilians

After the Great Schism most Basilian monasteries became a part of the Eastern Orthodox Church, however some Basilian monasteries which were in Italy remained in the Western Church.

The monastery of Rossano, founded by St. Nilus the Younger, remained for a long time faithful to the best literary traditions of Constantinople. The monasteries of San Salvatore of Messina and San Salvatore of Otranto may be mentioned; the monastery of Grottaferrata was also celebrated. The emigration of the Greeks to the West after the fall of Constantinople and the union with Rome, concluded at the Council of Florence, gave a certain prestige to these communities. Cardinal Bessarion, who was Abbot of Grottaferrata, sought to stimulate the intellectual life of the Basilians by means of the literary treasures which their libraries contained.

A number of Roman Catholic communities continued to exist in the East. The Holy See caused them to be united into congregations, namely: the Congregation of St. Savior founded in 1715, which includes 8 monasteries and 21 hospices with about 250 monks; the Congregation of Aleppo with 4 monasteries and 2 hospices; the Congregation of the Baladites (Valadites) with 4 monasteries and 3 hospices. These last two congregations have their houses in the district of Mount Lebanon. Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych and Father Rutski, who labored to bring back the Ruthenian Churches into Catholic unity, reformed the Ruthenian Basilians forming the Order of Saint Basil the Great.

Latin Basilians

In the sixteenth century the Italian monasteries of the Basilian Order were in the last stages of decay. Urged by Cardinal Sirlet, Pope Gregory XIII ordained (1573) their union in a congregation under the control of a superior general. Use was made of the opportunity to separate the revenues of the abbeys from those of the monasteries. The houses of the Italian Basilians were divided into the three provinces of Sicily, Calabria, and Rome.

Although the monks remained faithful in principle to the Greek Liturgy they showed an inclination towards the use of the Latin Liturgy; some monasteries have adopted the latter altogether. In Spain there was a Basilian congregation which had no traditional connection with Oriental Basilians; the members followed the Latin Liturgy. Father Bernardo de la Cruz and the hermits of Santa Maria de Oviedo in the Diocese of Jaen formed the nucleus of the congregation.

Pope Pius VI added them to the followers of St. Basil and they were affiliated with the monastery of Grottaferrata (1561). The monasteries of Tardón and of San Antonio del Valle de Galleguillos, founded by Father Mateo de la Fuente, were for a time united with this congregation but they withdrew later in order to form a separate congregation (1603) which increased very little, having only four monasteries and a hospice at Seville.

The other Basilians, who followed a less rigorous observance, showed more growth; their monasteries were formed into the two provinces of Castile and Andalusia. They were governed by a vicar general and were under the control, at least nominally, of a superior general of the order. Each of their provinces had its college or scholasticate at Salamanca and Seville.

They did not abstain from wine. Like their brethren in Italy they wore a cowl similar to that of the Benedictines; this led to recriminations and processes, but they were authorized by Rome to continue the use of this attire.

Several writers are to be found among them, as: Alfonso Clavel, the historiographer of the order; Diego Niceno, who has left sermons and ascetic writings; Luis de los Angelos, who issued a work on, "Instructions for Novices" (Seville, 1615), and also translated into Spanish Cardinal Bessarion's exposition of the Rule of St. Basil; Felipe de la Cruz, who wrote a treatise on money loaned at interest, that was published at Madrid in 1637, and one on tithes, published at Madrid in 1634. The Spanish Basilians were suppressed with the other orders in 1835 and have not been re-established.

The Congregation of St. Basil was formed in Annonay in France (1822) under the Rule of St. Basil, which has a branch at Toronto, Canada.

The Byzantine Discalced Carmelites are a community of cloistered nuns of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church living committed to a life of prayer, according to the eremitic tradition and lifestyle of the Discalced Carmelites.

It was out of a desire for Christian reconciliation and inspired by Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council that the Byzantine Carmel was brought to life. Holy Annunciation Carmel's founding sisters, Mother Marija of the Holy Spirit, Sister Marie Helen of the Cross and Sister Ann of the Trinity (d. 2001) offered their lives for the healing of the Body of Christ with the inauguration of the monastery at Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania on 23 February 1977. The Most Reverend Michael Dudick (1916–2007), the bishop of the Ruthenians of Passaic, New Jersey, assumed the total burden of financial responsibility and assisted the community for years.

Father Walter Ciszek, S.J. both guided the sisters in the establishment of this new foundation and introduced the community to Bishop Michael.

"Divine providence directed us to the Ruthenian people and their diocese of Passaic NJ, which stems from the Uzhgorod-Mukachevo eparchy in Transcarpathia (now Ukraine). At the time of founding Holy Annunciation, Communism was in full force and daily we prayed for "our suffering brethren" (behind the iron curtain). As Communism weakened and then collapsed (1989-1990) we received requests, even applications, from young women in Byzantine Slovakia and Carpathia who felt they had a Carmelite vocation. Several Byzantine rite girls came to us from Slovakia and Carpathia. We in turn promised, when feasible, that a foundation would be made in their homeland. This has been our endeavor since 1995, and in 2002 we sent Sisters there to begin the Monastery of St. Therese in Koritnyani, Transcarpathia." - Mother Marija

In 1999, the community, through an unusual chain of events, accepted five young women of the South Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic Church as members. These sister comprise one third of the community. Bishop Dudick encouraged the assistance of sister Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Order of St. Basil the Great (OSBM Latin: Ordo Sancti Basilii Magni, Ukrainian: Чин Святого Василія Великого, Chyn Sviatoho Vasyliia Velykoho) also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat is an monastic religious order of the Greek Catholic Churches that is present in many countries and that has its Mother House in Rome. The order received approbation on August 20, 1631. Its monks, brothers, and priests work primarily with Ukrainian Catholics and are also present in other Greek-Catholic Churches in Central and Eastern Europe.

History

The order is based upon the ascetic writings of Saint Basil the Great (329-379, in accordance with the Rule of St Basil laid down by him and later developed by Saint Theodore the Studite (760-826), Saint Theodosius of Kyiv (†1074), Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych (1580-1623) and the Metropolitan of Kyiv Joseph Benjamin Rutsky (1574-1637).

Monastic life began to develop in Ukraine in the times of Saint Volodymyr the Great (980-1015), when the first monks settled in the caves near Kyiv led by Sts. Anthony and Theodosius. After the Mongol invasions in the 13th century the monks fled to western lands of Halych-Volhynia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, spreading Eastern Monasticism there. After the Eastern Rite Ruthenian (modern day Belarus and Ukraine) Church has re-affirmed its communion with the Catholic Church in the Union of Brest in 1596. The monasteries living according to the rules of St. Basil and St. Theodore Studite, previously undergoing a period of laxity and decline, were reformed by the initiative of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych and Joseph Benjamin Rutsky started in the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Vilnius. Following this reform in 1617 the individual monasteries united into a single congregation under a Protarchimandrite directly subject to the Metropolitan, similar to the path Western Rite monasticism took during the Middle Ages. In 1739 a second congregation was formed by monasteries in Halychyna and in 1744 both congregations were united in the Ruthenian Order of St. Basil the Great by Pope Benedict XIV.

The Order of St. Basil the Great spread and flourished across modern day Belarus and Ukraine and played a key role in the education both of laity and clergy and helped preserve the distinctiveness of the Ruthenian culture in the predominantly Polish and Roman Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions of Poland by the end of the 18th century. In 1772 the Order had over 200 monasteries and over 1000 monks, six seminaries, twenty schools and colleges and four printing houses.

In the last years of the 18th century most of the Ruthenian lands came under the Russian Empire, where the Order along with the whole Ruthenian Church was persecuted and eventually the monasteries were subjected under the Russian Orthodox Church. A small part of modern day Ukraine came under the Austrian rule were the fate of the Ruthenian Church was much better. However, the Order suffered under the policies of Emperor Joseph II, directed generally against all religious orders. In the second half of the 19th century efforts were undertaken to renew the Order. By 1882 it was reduced to just 60 monks in 14 monasteries. With permission from Pope Leo XII the Basilian Constitution was updated with help from the Society of Jesus starting with Dobromyl monastery, changing the character to one less sedentary and more missionary, among other things allowing the monks to work with Ukrainian diaspora overseas. The Basilians reached Brazil (1897), Canada (1902), USA (1907) and Argentina (1934). New provinces were established covering Transcarpathia, Hungary and Yugoslavia and Romania. By 1939 the number of monks rose to over 650.

Following the Second World War, the Russians entered further into Europe and forced the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into the catacombs. In all of the Soviet controlled territories only a single Basilian monastery was left open, in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Nonetheless, the Order survived among the Ukrainian diaspora in the free world (and in communist Yugoslavia where the regime was relatively benign) and in Ukraine itself where the monks secretly prayed and catechesized.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Order was reëstablished in independent Ukraine and other Central and Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Some old monasteries have been restored and new ones established. In 2001 there were over 600 monks, 300 of them in Ukraine.

Cenobitic (also spelled cœnobitic, koinobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West, the community belongs to a religious order and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. The older style of monasticism, to live as a hermit, is called eremitic; and a third form of monasticism, found primarily in the East, is the skete.

The English words "cenobite" and "cenobitic" are derived, via Latin, from the Greek words κοινός and βίος (koinos and bios, meaning "common" and "life"). The adjective is κοινοβιακόν in Greek. A group of monks living in community is often referred to as a "cenobium".

Cenobitic monasticism exists in various religions, though Buddhist and Christian cenobitic monasticism are the most prominent.

Origins

The organized version of Christian cenobitic monasticism is commonly thought to have started in Egypt in the 4th century AD. Christian monks of previous centuries were usually hermits, especially in the Middle East; this continued to be very common until the decline of Syrian Christianity in the Late Middle Ages. This form of solitary living, however, did not suit everyone. Some monks found the eremitic style to be too lonely and difficult; and if one was not spiritually prepared, the life could lead to mental breakdowns.

For this reason, organized monastic communities started to be created, so that monks could have more support in their spiritual struggle. While eremitic monks did have an element of socializing, since they would meet once a week to pray together, cenobitic monks came together for common prayer on a more regular basis. The cenobitic monks also practised more socializing because the monasteries where they lived were often located in or near inhabited villages. For example, the Bohairic version of the Life of Pachomius states that the monks of the monastery of Tabenna built a church for the villagers of the nearby town of the same name even "before they constructed one for themselves." This means that cenobitic monks did find themselves in contact with other people, including lay people, whereas the eremitic monks tried their best to keep to themselves, only meeting for prayer occasionally.

Saint Pachomius

Cenobitic monks were also different from their eremitic predecessors and counterparts in their actual living arrangements. Whereas the eremitic monks ("hermits") lived alone in a monastery consisting of merely a hut or cave ("cell"), the cenobitic monks ("cenobites") lived together in monasteries comprising one or a complex of several buildings. In the case of the latter, each dwelling would house about twenty monks and within the house there were separate rooms or "cells" that would be inhabited by two or three monks. This structure of living for the cenobitic monks has been attributed to the same man that is usually hailed as the "father of cenobitic monasticism," St. Pachomius. Pachomius is thought to have got the idea for living quarters like these from the time he spent in the Roman army, because the style is very "reminiscent of army barracks."

Though Pachomius is often credited as the "father of cenobitic monasticism," it is more accurate to think of him as the "father of organized cenobitic monasticism" as he was the first monk to take smaller communal groups that often already existed and bring them together into a larger federation of monasteries.

The account of how Pachomius was given the idea to start a cenobitic monastery is found in Palladius of Galatia's "The Lausiac History" and says that an angel came to Pachomius to give him the idea. Though this is an interesting explanation for why he decided to initiate the cenobitic tradition, there are sources that indicate there were actually other communal monastic communities around at the same time as Pachomius, and possibly even before him. In fact, three of the nine monasteries that joined Pachomius' cenobitic federation were not founded by him, meaning he actually was not the first to have such an idea since these three "clearly had an independent origin."

Though he was not the first to implement communal monasticism, Pachomius is still an important part of cenobitic monastic history, since he was the first to bring differing separate monasteries together into a more organized structure. This is the reason why (as well as the fact that much hagiography and literature has been written about him) he has continued to be recognized as the father of the tradition.

Melitians and Manichaeans

Aside from the monasteries that joined Pachomius' federation of cenobitic monasteries, there were also other cenobitic Christian groups who decided not to join him. The Melitians and the Manichaeans are examples of these cenobitic groups. Even before Pachomius had started on his path toward monastic communities, the Melitians were a group already recruiting members. They actually had "heard of Pachomius' monastic aspirations and tried to recruit him" to join their community.

As for Manichaeans, a group founded by a man named Mani, some scholars believe they were the "pioneers of communal asceticism in Egypt," and not Pachomius and the Pachomians as has become the common thought. Mani, himself, was actually influenced to begin cenobitic monasticism from other groups, including Buddhists and Jewish-Christian Elkasites who were practising this tradition already.

The overall idea of cenobitic monasticism cannot be traced to a single source, however, as many have tried to do in calling Pachomius the "founder" of the tradition, but rather is thanks to the ideas and work of numerous groups, including the aforementioned Melitians, Manichaeans, Elkasites, Buddhists and, of course, the Pachomians.

Later cenobitic communities

The cenobitic monastic idea did not end with these early groups, though, but rather inspired future groups and individuals:

Mar Awgin founded a monastery on Mt. Izla above Nisibis in Mesopotamia (~350), and from this monastery the cenobitic tradition spread in Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia and even India and China.
Mar Saba organized the monks of the Judean Desert in a monastery close to Bethlehem (483), and this is considered the mother of all monasteries of the Eastern Orthodox churches.
St. Benedict of Nursia founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy (529), which was the seed of Roman Catholic monasticism in general, and of the order of Benedict in particular.
St. Bruno of Carthusia, prompted by the spectre of the damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris Cenodoxus founded a monastery just outside of Paris in the 11th Century.
In both the East and the West, cenobiticism established itself as the primary form of monasticism, with many foundations being richly endowed by rulers and nobles. The excessive acquisition of wealth and property led to several attempts at reform, such as Bernard of Clairvaux in the West and Nilus of Sora in the East.

Stylites (from Greek stylos, "pillar") or Pillar-Saints are a type of Christian ascetic who in the early days of the Byzantine Empire stood on pillars preaching, fasting and praying. They believed that the mortification of their bodies would help ensure the salvation of their souls. The first stylite was probably Simeon Stylites the Elder who climbed on a pillar in Syria in 423 and remained there until his death 37 years later.

Ascetic Precedents

Palladius of Galatia (chapter 48) tells us of a hermit in Palestine who dwelt in a cave on the top of a mountain and who for the space of twenty-five years never turned his face to the west so that the sun never set on his face. St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Patrologia Graeca 37, 1456) speaks of a solitary who stood upright for many years together, absorbed in contemplation, without ever lying down. Theodoret assures us that he had seen a hermit who had passed ten years in a tub suspended in midair from poles (Philotheus, chapter 28).

Simeon Stylites and His Contemporaries

There seems no reason to doubt that it was the ascetic spirit manifested in such examples as these which spurred men on to devise new and more ingenious forms of self-crucifixion and which in 423 led Simeon Stylites the Elder first of all to take up his abode on the top of a pillar. Critics have recalled a passage in Lucian (De Syria Dea, chapters 28 and 29) which speaks of a high column at Hierapolis Bambyce to the top of which a man ascended twice a year and spent a week in converse with the gods, but the Catholic Encyclopedia argues that it is unlikely that Simeon had derived any suggestion from this pagan custom. In any case Simeon had a continuous series of imitators, particularly in Syria and Palestine. Daniel the Stylite may have been the first of these, for he had been a disciple of Simeon and began his rigorous way of life shortly after his master died. Daniel was a Syrian by birth but he established himself near Constantinople, where he was visited by both the Emperor Leo and the Emperor Zeno. Simeon the Younger, like his namesake, lived near Antioch; he died in 596, and had for a contemporary a hardly less famous Stylite, Saint Alypius, whose pillar had been erected near Hadrianopolis in Paphlagonia. Alypius, after standing upright for 53 years, found his feet no longer able to support him, but instead of descending from his pillar lay down on his side and spent the remaining fourteen years of his life in that position. Roger Collins, in his Early Medieval Europe, tells us that in some cases two or more pillar saints of differing theological viewpoints could find themselves within calling distance of each other, and would argue with one another from their columns.

Other Stylites

Saint Luke the Younger, another famous pillar hermit lived in the 10th century on Mount Olympus, but he also seems to have been of Asiatic parentage. There were many others besides these who were not so famous and even women Stylites were known. One or two isolated attempts seem to have been made to introduce this form of asceticism into the West but it met with little favour. In the East cases were found down to the 12th century; in the Russian Orthodox Church it lasted until 1461, and among the Ruthenians even later. There can be no doubt that for the majority of the pillar hermits the extreme austerity of which we read in the lives of the Simeons and of Alypius was somewhat mitigated. Upon the summit of some of the columns for example a tiny hut was erected as a shelter against sun and rain, and we hear of other hermits of the same class among the Monophysites, who lived inside a hollow pillar rather than upon it; but the life in any case must have been one of extraordinary endurance and privation.

In popular culture

* The Vertigo stunt performed by David Blaine on 22 March 2002
was in part inspired by the Pillar-Saints, as he declared in
the TV documentary about this stunt.


Fiction

* In Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court, the title character encounters a stylite who prays
by Metanoia and uses the pedal motion to sew shirts
describes as "St. Stylites".

* Umberto Eco's Baudolino temporarily becomes a stylite
towards the end of the book.

* Luis Buñuel's Simón del desierto (Simon of the Desert,
1965) is a humorous film about the life of a stylite.

* In the Discworld book Small Gods, a character named St.
Ungulant lives on top of a pole.

A stylite is one who lives on a pillar (style in Greek). These holy saints would remove their bodies from the ground for days, months, or even years in order that they might pray and fast better. This did not mean that they were cut off from the world. On the contrary, many people came from far and wide to learn from them.

The first stylite was St. Symeon the Stylite whose feast day is celebrated on September 1. Other stylites include:

* Father Daniel the Stylite (409-493), a disciple of Saint
Symeon, whose feast is December 11

* Saint Symeon the New Stylite or the Younger (d. 592), whose
feast is May 24

* Saint Alipios the Stylite (7th-8th century), whose feast is
November 26

* Saint Lazarus the Stylite (968-1054), who fell asleep on
November 8

Pole-sitting is the practice of sitting on a pole for extended lengths of time, generally used as a test of endurance. A small platform may be placed at the top of the pole.

History

Pole-sitting is related to the ancient ascetic discipline of Stylitism, or column-sitting. Famous column-sitters include St Simeon Stylites the Elder (c. 388-459) of Antioch (now Turkey) who sat on a column for 37 years.

Flagpole-sitting was a fad from 1924 to 1929. The fad began when a friend dared stunt actor Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly to sit on a flagpole. Shipwreck's initial 1924 sit lasted 13 hours and 13 minutes. It soon became a fad with other contestants setting records of 12, 17 and 21 days. In 1929, Shipwreck decided to reclaim the title. He sat on a flagpole for 49 days in Atlantic City, New Jersey, setting the enduring record. The following year, 1930, his record was broken by Bill Penfield in Strawberry Point, Iowa who sat on a flag pole for 51 days and 20 hours, until a thunderstorm brought him down.

This fad eventually reached Shipwreck imitators when, in 1929, Baltimore had at least 17 boys and 3 girls sitting on 18 foot hickory poles while their family and friends cheered them on.

Records

* H. David Werder claims to have sat on a pole for 439 days, 11
hours, and six minutes in the early 1980s to protest against
the price of gasoline.

* Daniel Baraniuk, from Gdańsk, Poland, sat on a 16-by-24-inch
platform on an 8-foot pole for 196 days from May 15, 2002 to
November 26, 2002. He had a ten minute break every 2 hours.

Contemporary

Peter Spencer ascended to a small platform on a 100 meter wind monitoring tower, and has maintained a hunger strike since 1 December 2009. Peter is protesting recent changes to land clearing and water management regulation.

A hermit (from the Greek erēmos, signifying "desert," "uninhabited," hence "desert-dweller") is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion from society.

The term commonly applies to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament, i.e., the 40 years wandering in the desert that was meant to bring about a change of heart.

Often, both in religious and secular literature, the term is used loosely for anyone living a solitary life-style—including the misanthropist—and in religious contexts is sometimes assumed to be interchangeable with anchorite/anchoress (from the Greek anachōreō, signifying "to withdraw," "to depart into the country outside the circumvallated city"), recluse and solitary. However, it is important to retain a clear distinction.

Christian hermits in the past have most often lived in caves, forests, or deserts, but some of them preferred an isolated cell in a monastery or even a city. From what we know from their contribution to our Christian heritage, male hermits were more common than female.

The solitary life is a form of asceticism, wherein the hermit renounces wordly concerns and pleasures in order to come closer to the God. In ascetic hermitism, the hermit seeks solitude for meditation, contemplation, and prayer without the distractions of contact with human society, sex, or the need to maintain socially acceptable standards of cleanliness or dress. The ascetic discipline can also include a simplified diet and/or manual labor as a means of support; for example, the early Christian Desert Fathers often wove baskets to exchange for bread.

Ironically, hermits are often sought out for spiritual advice and counsel and may eventually acquire so many disciples that they have no solitude at all. Examples include St. Anthony the Great, who attracted such a large body of followers in the Egyptian desert that he is considered by both Catholics and the Orthodox to be the "Founder of Monasticism." Other religious hermits include St. Mary of Egypt, St. Simeon Stylites, St. Herman of Alaska, Thomas Merton, St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and Charles de Foucauld.